Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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192. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will elaborate on the single affordable childcare scheme and the way it aims to raise the low income of workers in the child care industry; the way she will ensure that the subsidy will be passed on to workers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32215/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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My Department does not act as employer to child care workers, so wage rates, in addition to pay for preparation time, holidays, etc, is in the first instance a matter to be settled between the employer and employee, in line with relevant legislation.

My Department accepts that the sector is under cost pressure, and that staff wages are a large component of cost. To go some way towards addressing this, I have secured additional funding of €14 million in Budget 2017 which will enable ECCE providers to be paid for a 39^thweek and part of a 40^thweek (7 ECCE days in total or 1.4 ECCE weeks) where they will have no children present and they will be able to pay staff to concentrate on administrative workload. Services themselves can decide how to use the payment when it is received. For the average ECCE service with 25 children, this will mean an additional annual payment of approximately €2,400 per annum.

Part of the additional funding €14m will be given to CCS and TEC providers on a pro-rata basis also to acknowledge their administrative burden also. The Affordable Childcare Scheme when introduced in Sept 17 will replace CCS and TEC and will have recognition of non-contact time built into its cost base. I will monitor the use made of non-contact funding provided for ECCE services and will review the payment in the event that this is not passed on to staff in the form of an additional week's pay.

The Independent Review of Cost, to be commissioned by my Department, will also help to clarify the extent to which workers' wages are a driver in the cost of childcare, and vice versa.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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193. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the way the single affordable childcare scheme will prevent child care facilities from driving up prices even further; the monitoring mechanisms in place to prevent this; if the introduction of a cap on fees will be introduced sooner rather than later in an effort to prevent price hikes, a cap similar to that already introduced as part of the state funded ECCE; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32216/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Single Affordable Scheme, which I have announced as part of Budget 2017, is intended to support parents in meeting the cost of childcare. Childcare providers set their own fees, and there is no current plan for the Government to control fees, which would be a major intrusion in the market and could, if not managed carefully and appropriately, create risks around the viability and quality of childcare provision. The Programme for Government includes a commitment to carrying out an independent review of costs. This review will be overseen by my Department and will include analysis on the potential benefits and risks of imposing price caps on childcare providers.

It is intended that all providers participating in the Scheme will be required to have their fees published so that parents can compare providers and can see what their co-payment would be after taking account of any State subsidy.